Band: Mortificare
Album: Apud Mortis
Released: 2003
Jeff Gilbert - Drums
Mike Haas - Vocals/Guitar
Eric Manuel - Bass
Review:
Thrill Of The Kill - Starts with a short cymbal intro and then everything kicks in with death metal fashion. Fast and hard. On this recording, it sounds likes the treble is turned up more than the bass on the guitar. So, it sounds a little different live. He starts singing around 30 seconds; in this case, "singing" is deep screaming/growling. Which Mike does very well. There's a short breakdown bit in there, where he screams a liitle higher. And that's one cool thing about his voice, most death metal bands have the same tone throughout every single song. Mike does not. Although, it is mainly deep screaming/growling, he does have some nice deep shrieks in there. There's a cool solo in this song, not very long, but still pretty good. And then some more of the pounding metal, then which comes to and abrupt stop. 7/10
Tortured - A somewhat unexpected intro for a death metal band. Clean, slow, guitar riff. Then repeats and flows right into the distortion and the band comes in, with the vocals following shortly after. Nice, driving hardcore. It keeps this tempo throughout most of the song. This song reminds me somewhat of Atreyu. There's another short solo in there too. Everything stops except guitar, and then everything just slips back and it slides back into the pounding of earlier part of the song. And then another abrupt stop. The vocals are kind of shadowed by everything else though. There is also a small part where the bass is more noticeable. 8/10
Vampiric Oblivion - Another clean guitar riff to open, but this one is different. It's better than the last song. It just seems to fit the title more. It has that kind of "vampire" feel to it. It's a little faster than the song before. After that plays through, the distortion fades in, and the pounding drums and bass come in with the urgent paced guitar riff. It slows down just a tad when it hit the verse and he starts singing. His screaming is a little higher thoughtout this song, more than it normally is. Just a slight difference though. Then there's a music break, when it has this sharp, slightly higher pitched riff. It reminds me of a Papa Roach song, but it's way better. Then there's a verse and that same riff following, with an addition to the end of it. Then another verse where he noticably screams louder and then the riff again with a different addition to it. Then a slower breakdown, with slightly whispered growling. There's some more higher screaming and that sharp riff again and the it closes with the same riff it opened with. I saw this song live, very powerful. My favorite on the cd. 10/10
The Mutilator: First Kill - Jumps right into the punding rage this time. Some great guitar riffs to start and the drums are brought into focus with the rhymic tapping of the high hat, I believe. (Not a drummer) I think they turned up the bass on the guitar just a little for this one. There's a short bit where the guitar starts the higher pitched riff and then goes into the verse. More growling, with some vocal spiking in there as well. Then it goes for a while and then the part that always gets stuck in my head. The words are hard to make out, and they don't have the lyrics up on their new website yet, but he's singing about pulling a person apart and there's line that they repeat a few times that's like, "one by one." It growled really fast and the guitar palm mutes to go along with it. It's pretty cool. Some great screaming here. 9/10
Interlude - It's not some quiet, slow interlude, it's just as hardcore as the rest. Starts with a guitar riff, that goes up and down, pretty sweet. Then everything comes in and the guitar does another riff. Then it basically repeats these two parts, and the rest is similar to it. Shortest song on the album. It's a good song to go right in between "The Mutilator" and "The Mutilated." But it ends in a way that a song hasn't ended yet on this cd. Just fades out. 8/10
The Mutilated - The quietist intro on the whole cd. Slightly clean repeated riff, that kind of grows in power, until it breaks out into another hardcore riff. The pound in and then it slows down for a bit, and there's kind of a drum solo. Then everything's in and it goes faster. He starts screaming in there too. So if you missed his voice in the "Interlude," here it is. I notice the vocals more in this song. You can make more of lyrics than most of the songs...in some parts. It carries the same basic riffs throughout the song, except towards the end. A lot of deep growls at the end and some higher screaming before those. A short break for the guitar, which becomes unexpectingly clean under the deep screams of Mike and a second voice added in. It surprised me and I though it was great. It's something that isn't done through the rest of the cd. 9/10
Death Consumes - A completely cliche titled, but oh well. Every bands got to have something cliche. Another very quiet intro, except this one is played on some higher notes, but that doesn't last long. It breaks right into the metal, with the screaming. I think this one would have to be my least favorite song on the cd. It's not horrible, just ok. Nothing extremely special about it, except this breakdown in the middle of the song which got me into it for a little while. But this is the second shortest track, so it's ok. Some nice use of palm muting though. Again, the vocals are kind of set back by the guitar. It's pretty good screaming though. Goes from high to deep at this one part. And ends in a short riff. 7/10
Decay - Another quiet intro. But it is also different. A real high pitched riff to start and then some chords and the drums slam in with the bass. And then the high pitched riff is played again, but louder than the intro and longer. Sounds slightly Egyptian. Then goes into the chords that carry through the verse with his growling. There's a point where he holds the word, "decay" for longer than he usually does. Pretty cool, and then the guitar riff changes. And then into another verse, and repeats, basically. The everything stops and the guitar has a short bit and it ends with the final beat of the drums. 7/10
Quartered and Gutted - Fast, clean intro, and the drums come and it sounds like marching, and everything gets louder and breaks into the metal and there's some low growls. On this song, the music stops completely while he growls. Something else that wasn't done before on this cd. As he sings more, he gets louder and higher. Then the band plays continuously and he sings faster. (Sing still meaning growling) And the song is basically played again, music wise anyway, but it's still cool the second time though. But then there's another breakdown and it stops for a second in there, for a short growl. And then something else completely unexpected...fingertapping. It's only like, 10 second long right at the end, but it's still awesome. And comes to another quick stop. 9/10
War Monger - The last song people. Slow drums to start and a hardcore riff by the guitar. Then everything speeds up into the verse. Growling and then into a break where the music changes again, just like some of the other songs. Then it's played thoughout the verse and then another change, and then, another solo! Starts high pitched and goes low, then high again. Very 80's style...somewhat. Then plays the intro again. Then a vocal-less breakdown again, and plays like that for a while and then he starts singing again. Another intro played as the song is ending with some nice growls. They lie on the cd cover. It's actually 11:34 minutes long, not 5:44. The song ends at 5:44, but then there's a long blank space. But if you listen to AFI, you should be used to that. But close to the 8 minute mark, an acoustic guitar comes in and actual singing! It's an Irish drinking type song. It goes for a while, then stops, and starts again. It goes until the end of the cd. Just shows that a death metal band isn't all serious and death-filled. 8/10
Other things:
I usually can't stand death metal bands, but I love this one. Plus, they are local, and I love going to their shows. If you live in IL, you could be able to see them in Chicago or St. Louis this summer. They'll be playing shows around Bloomington, IL otherwise. But the quality of this cd isn't too great, and they are much better live, you can actually hear the bass, which is quite...amazing. They also have an oprea thing to start their shows and a fog machine (the last show I was at, it set of the fire alarm). They also have face paint sometimes. Great preformers, a lot of energy. They also have spawned one of the biggest mosh pits I've ever seen (for the small amount of people). If you have any interest, go to their website and email them. I'm sure they would be more than happy to mail out a 4 dollar cd, or a 2 dollar demo. I give the cd 4/5
[URL=http://mortificare.justdied.com/]Mortificare[/URL]
